1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the real time recording of video data that show the point-of-impact of a military weapon, the weapon's detonation and the initial damage resulting to the target. In the past, there has been a lack of a practical and low-cost method of obtaining this needed data in a timely manner. In daylight conditions with clear weather, pilots have provided reports of their visual observations, the reports being subjective and prone to accentuate the positive. Expensive systems have been available such as reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, and unmanned air vehicles to obtain objective data but even these systems have inherent delays in providing data and are severely limited when clouds obscure a target. In clear weather conditions, aircraft-based video sensors have been employed to record points-of-impact and initial damage resulting from LASER guided bombs. However, systems of this type are impractical for weather conditions in which low clouds are present. Weapons with video sensors and data links provide video data regarding point of weapon impact but do not show weapon detonation, proper function of the fusing, hard target penetration, nor any other target damage information. The present invention solves these problems and provides the military user the capability to record high quality video of a weapon's impact point as well as initial damage resulting from the employment of the weapon.
2. Description of Prior Art
Weapons that have video sensors for terminal guidance to a target have been used by military forces for a number of years. Weidenhagen et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4290364) discloses one such application. Terminal guidance sensors do provide video imagery up to the point of weapon impact but they cannot provide data showing the weapon detonation or target damage.
A towed target designation and acquisition system is described by Patterson (U.S. Pat. No. 4354419) for use by an aircraft flying at a low altitude, thereby increasing aircraft survivability by avoiding detection by enemy radar. The system employs a Forward Looking Infrared sensor and a LASER designator that is housed in a glider that is towed by the aircraft. The glider has a stealthy, high lift-to-drag airframe design and is controlled from the cockpit of the aircraft doing the towing. The glider is thereby positioned between 600 to 4000 feet above the low flying aircraft. This aircraft based system is large, expensive, and not adaptable to weapons released from an aircraft.
Several systems that use TV cameras attached to parachutes have been devised by various inventors, including Keams et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3962537), Dowries (EP Patent 0466499), and Rutt (UK Patent 2244118), A published article by Ohlhoff titled, "Artillery Launched Television" also discloses a system using this approach. These systems have several deficiencies that limit their usefulness including; parachute drift problems caused by wind in the target area, a wide variation in both picture quality and area of coverage due to the wide variation in distance between the TV camera and target area as the parachute descends from high altitude to low altitude, and susceptibility to transmission signal interference due to the long period of radio transmission of the TV picture as the parachute descends.
Eichweber (U.S. Pat. No. 4004487) describes a ground launched projectile mounted imaging system for target acquisition designed to assist ground personnel in directing subsequent weapons toward acquired targets. It is not designed to provide impact and or damage assessment, and if so employed, would provide a limited capability and be relatively expensive to operate.
All systems disclosed in the prior an have recognized the usefulness of video imagery in modem warfare and attempt to place their respective video sensors at positions needed for their respective system applications. Most of the systems have also used the radio frequency spectrum to transmit the data to the needed remote location. None of the systems, however, provide low cost, tunely, and accurate battle damage information to the on-scene commander of the military forces, the key individual responsible for the execution of the military action. As a result, this deficiency has been cited as one of the major "lessons learned" by the U.S. Department of Defense during the Desert Storm Military Operations.